Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One) (17 page)

He shrugged his shoulders. “I wanted to come before he
passed so you and I could meet for the first time with him here, but he said I
had to wait for the Akori Shepherd. He told me he had a plan and I was not to
deviate from it.”

“I guess Fate knew what he was doing.” She just wished
she knew what it was.

“You don’t call him Grandfather?”

She shook her head. “I never have. Everyone else
called him Fate when I was little, so I just started calling him by his name
too.”

Addy never thought calling her grandfather by his first
name was odd. Jax calling him grandfather seemed strange to her.

“We’d better get back. I’m sure the library’s cleared out
by now.” Addy smiled at him thinly. Her head was spinning and it was everything
she could do to keep it together.

The library was empty when they walked back to the
main area, except for Juliette, who was perched on the long stone table they
used for meetings.

“Why is there
still
no electricity in this room
after all of these years?” she asked.

Jax looked around and smirked. “Jules, where is
everyone?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted the room
cleared?
” She
hopped off the table and walked toward Jax.

“Haven’t we talked about you taking things too literally?”
Jax snickered, opening the library doors. He looked at the group outside. “She means
well.”

“The Overseer must be surrounded by loyal people, who
will do what he asks without question every time.” Bernard gave Juliette a pat
on the shoulder. “You did fine.”

“What kind of weapons do you have around this place?”
Juliette asked him.

“We have a very well stocked weapons vault.” Bernard
loved anything having to do with fighting and her question made him smile from
ear to ear. “I’ll show you when time permits.”

Jax asked the group of people Addy said she could
trust and Tanner to come in. Then he closed and locked the library doors. Stubbs
wasn’t included and she really felt bad. Kim and Matt sat together on the
chaise lounge by the fire. Kim had never been included on any Akori related
discussions and she looked nervous.

“Any ideas about who took the stone?” Josh asked, in
his gruff voice. He didn’t talk much, but he was always loyal to Fate and took
good care of Matt and Renee.

Jax hoisted himself up on the stone table to sit.
“Nope.”

Gage was leaning against the wall near the fireplace.
“What are you doing to find it?” He glanced at Addy, catching her eye.

“Nothing currently,” Jax said while he examined his
own perfect fingernails.

Addy stepped forward and put her hands up. “I think
Jax means we haven’t started
yet
but—”

“Why don’t you
care
that the Overseer’s Stone
is missing?” Bernard asked, walking up to Jax. “What do you know about it that
we don’t?”

Jax leaned toward Juliette, who was seated on the
table next to him. “There’s a reason my grandfather liked him.”

Addy was starting to get irritated at Jax’s ridiculous
comments. She was just about to lose it when Tanner walked up and hung his arm
around her shoulders. Gage shifted uncomfortably against the wall and divert
his eyes.

“Alright partner, tell us what you know so we can all
bail,” Tanner said. “I have a gig tonight.”

Jax sat up straight. “Really, where at? I’m free later.”

Addy couldn’t take another second of his unconcerned
attitude. “Jax! Either put on your big boy pants and contribute, or get out so
the grown-ups can talk.”

He looked shocked. His posture and facial expression
completely changed.

Juliette bumped his shoulder with hers. “She
told
you.”

“I
apologize
,” he said to Addy, then looked
around at everyone. “There’s nothing anyone but me can do with the stone. I’m
not sure why someone took it, but I can easily locate it.” Jax turned to
Juliette. “I’ll need a couple of books from our house to do it. You can head
back there tonight and grab them for me.”

“Will do,” she said, sliding down from the tabletop.

Kim cleared her throat and leaned forward. “If you’re
the only one who can use the stone—then how’d Addy use it to get the symbol
like Tanner has?”

Matt put his arm around Kim as Jax shifted his eyes up
at her.

Jax gestured toward Addy with his head. “She’s still a
Sanders, even if she isn’t the Overseer.”

“We think Fate had me use the pattern that marked me
so I’d find Jax,” Addy said, glancing at her brother.

“But we can’t be sure of
anything
at this
point,” Bernard said. “She touched the stone but it marked her
and
Tanner—that
may indicate something else entirely.”

Jax cut his eyes at Bernard, and then looked around at
the group. “There’s nothing else we can do tonight. Don’t tell anyone outside
of this room what’s happening and I’ll let you know if anything changes tomorrow.”

He headed for the door but stopped in front of Addy,
leaning down and kissing her on the cheek. “Get some sleep—you look
terrible
.”
He walked out the door with Juliette before Addy could respond.

Addy walked home alone through the garden wondering how
things had gotten so messed up so fast. How she could possibly have ended up
with a brother like Jax was a total mystery. And on top of Jax there was the
missing Overseer’s Stone. The thought of Fate knowing how screwed up everything
got made her cringe.

Then there was Tanner. Addy felt terrible about
getting between him and Fate. She’d only wanted to protect him, but she really
should’ve just brought him to the estate. At least she’d been right about him
being an Akori and not knowing it. She really wanted answers to Bernard’s theory
that her grandfather gave Tanner to his adopted parents. She just didn’t want
to be pushy about it and cause him to stay away. She really liked having him
around.

 Just over halfway back to her villa she was startled
out of her thoughts by someone calling her name.

“Wait up, Addy.” Gage was coming up behind her.

A rush of excitement that turned into irritation swept
over her.

“Gage, I’m really tired, I literally haven’t slept
since I left here a couple of days ago.”

After he saw Tanner dropping her clothes off, that was
probably the wrong thing to say. The way he acted earlier was absolutely
ridiculous, and she was actually feeling pretty pissed at him. He’d always been
the one of the most reasonable people she knew.

 “I’ll just walk you to your place.” He caught up
fast. “I’m an ass for jumping to conclusions and I’m sorry. I’m here to help
you any way I can—not make things harder.”

Addy didn’t say anything until they were out in front
of her villa. She gazed out at the ocean, thinking about what to say carefully
before she spoke. “I used to wonder about that—if you’d stay here to help me
after Fate was gone.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Your brother may be the
Overseer, but I’m here for you.”

 It seemed like a lifetime ago since the day she woke
up and spotted the beach at their door. So much had changed so quickly. She
didn’t even know where to begin with Gage. Before the estate moved, she’d just
thought of him as an acquaintance—someone she used to know. Since being there
he’d somehow become a big part of her life again. Over the past few days she’s
realized that even though they didn’t talk, they’d really never stopped being
friends.

“I kept telling myself you didn’t know me anymore.” She
got up on the step to the porch and turned so they were looking face to face
and spoke quietly. “But it turns out that you’re probably the person who knows
me the best—you’re my oldest friend.”

She took in a deep breath of the floral scented air and
looked closely at him.

“It’s so
damn
disappointing you didn’t know me better
than to think I’d run off after a guy, Gage.”

It looked like what she said really hit him and he
lowered his head. Gage just stood there looking frustrated, like he didn’t know
where to start. He took her hand for a few seconds and then let it go. Addy had
never seen him look so uncertain.

Standing only inches in front of Gage—seeing him look
so distraught, it was hard not to reach out and touch him. She crossed her arms
to stop herself from being tempted.

“Just try to understand,” he said, taking a small step
closer to her. “Every day of your life I’ve known where to find you. For the first
time I didn’t—I couldn’t. You don’t know how—” He closed his eyes while he took
a deep breath, and then started again. “After we read the notes, I remembered
seeing you with that guy—
Tanner
a couple of times, it just made sense. Your
text message said you needed space so—”

“I needed time to sort out what was happening without
you guys worrying.” She put her hand on her forehead in frustration. “So much
has happened. I can’t even think straight anymore, I’m so tired.”

He dropped his shoulders. “Why don’t I just let you
get some sleep then? We can talk when things settle down.”

She nodded her head, crossing her arms again.

“Goodnight.” He brushed the back of his hand lightly
against her cheek, and walked back to the main house.

Addy began tossing the idea of stopping him around in
her head the second he turned his back, but she decided to just let him go.

Moose was super happy to see Addy, and he weaved in
and out of her feet as she walked around getting ready for bed. It was breezy
and mild outside so she opened a window to let fresh air fill the room. Turning
the lights out, she climbed under the covers. Moose happily jumped up to lay
next to her.

As tired as she was, the day kept replaying in her
mind. Jackson was her brother, which was completely unbelievable. He seemed
fine with it, but he’d known about her his whole life. She’d slipped into the
role of his sister earlier and tried to take things as they came without overthinking
it.

Actually, it was reassuring to know he was around and
had a handle on the things she didn’t understand. The brother part was going to
take some time to digest though. She figured Fate really went to a lot of trouble
to keep Jax a secret, and it must have been so difficult to hide him—especially
with that mouth of his.

Knowing the real details of her parents’ murder was
unreal to her. Thinking that misguided humans killed them was one thing, but
Akori doing it was completely different. Addy was beginning to think she really
didn’t know as much about the people she grew up around as she thought.

Thinking back to earlier on the front porch, she
wished she’d stopped Gage from leaving. She didn’t want to fight with him and
she was a little scared things would go back to the way they were before when
he didn’t talk to her. She could’ve just dropped the subject of how he acted
earlier and told him about the Akori Fate knew who could heal. Losing him as a
friend after just losing Fate was something she couldn’t handle.

Gage was a whole other big issue though. With all that
was going on, it was ridiculous that she kept thinking about him, yet she
couldn’t help herself. The message from Matt saying Gage had been out looking
for her all night, on top of what he said outside made her feel bad. He
probably always
had
known where she was—he’d been around her entire
life. There was no way she could have told him what she was going to do when
she left the estate though. She didn’t even know herself.

Addy reached over and picked up her cell phone. It was
almost 1am. She should’ve been asleep, but she was too busy fighting with
herself about whether to put the phone down or send Gage a text. She really
wanted to see if he was still up, but she wasn’t even sure where their
friendship stood. Eventually her better judgment lost out and she sent him a message.

Awake?

He responded a minute later.

I am now.

She put her hand over her eyes. “What am I
doing?”
She spoke out loud, startling Moose. A few minutes passed while she was trying
to decide what to do and her phone chirped again.

Need something or just wanna wake me up?

Clearing her mind as best as she could, she decided
what she wanted and quickly typed the message. She hit send before she had time
to change her mind.

Come over?

There was no response after ten minutes. Tossing her
phone on her nightstand, she turned over and closed her eyes.

Knocking at the patio door to her bedroom startled her
out of a light sleep. Addy took a few seconds to process the sound, then went
over and slid the door open to see Gage standing there.

Dread swept over her as she realized that she’d
managed to call him over in the middle of the night and had no idea why.

“Hey,” she said. She couldn’t see him very well in the
dark, but it looked like he was smiling.

“Did you really wake me up, ask me to come over, and
then go to sleep?”

“Sadly yes, but in my defense, you didn’t say you were
coming and I’ve been awake for days.” She stepped out of the way so he could
come in.

Gage took a step closer to her and leaned down,
brushing his fingertips along her cheek. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know why I asked you to come over.” Addy
looked up at him. “I was just thinking too much about what’s been going on
around here.”

He moved a little closer. “Try not to worry, we’ll
figure it all out.”

It was more than just that though. Maybe because she
was delirious with exhaustion she decided she might as well just say how she
felt.

“Gage, I don’t wanna argue with you, and I really
don’t—
I’m afraid
things will go back to the way they were when you
didn’t talk to me.”